The Dobro or resonater guitar was developed about 100 years ago when the guitar was introduced to the Hawaiians who adapted it to suit their traditions. Steel strings were introduced, the frets were raised and the sound chamber enlarged to incorporate a hollow neck. Made of wood or metal it has a loud nasal tone which became popular with country steel guitarists.

The Pedal Steel Guitar comes in various sizes with one to three necks each containing 6 to 10 strings. These rest on a box and stand with a set of pedals linked to the roller bridge which lower and raise the pitch. This enables the player to change complete tunings. There is a bridge lever for each string which are pivoted on a rod to make up the bridge assembly and tuned using keys at the end of the neck.

The Non-Pedal Steel guitar can be many shapes from the rounded banjo style to those built like pedal steels but without the pedals! The player sits with the guitar placed on its back across the lap, on a table or a stand.

More than one neck can be built on either with the most common being the double neck, ten string type with two sets of strings, each tuned to an open chord. They are played by plucking the strings with fingerpicks and running a hard object along the strings. This is known as a 'slide' which can be a hollow metal bar that is worn on the finger, a solid metal bar held in the hand or even an empty bottle!

They are difficult instruments to play with complicated tunings which take time and practice to learn. Both types are popular in blues, hawaiian, country and folk music.